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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL! In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures “that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption.” Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages and mismanagements which could be higher!

If the above list (which represent moneys saved) is added to the nation’s coffer and together with Petronas profits, palm oil profits and profits from rubber, tin, agriculture produce, aquaculture produce, electronic and hardware exports, etc, for the past 5 decades, we can all agree on one thing - our country could be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil. The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre! . The article below is a comment made by a Malaysiatoday reader name ez42get as a response to my article “Despite knowing, the BN did nothing except remove oil subsidy” which is published by MalaysiaToday. ( Thank you Malaysiatoday).

I believe the summary is concise and easy for anyone to understand. Enjoy

Ez42get writes:

Looking at the list below, it looks like the BN government are more determined to help themselves rather than the citizens.

And this list below is not even barely exhaustive as these are the ones uncovered – the tip of the ice-berg, if you might want to put it! What lies beneath could be much larger:-

11. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments which it is unable to give a breakdown.

12. The commission paid for purchase of jets and submarines to two private companies Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million.

14. RM1.3 billion have been wasted building the white elephant Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation of the Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge

15. RM 100 million on renovation of Parliament building and leaks

16. National Astronaut Programme - RM 40 million

17. National Service Training Programme - yearly an estimate of RM 500 million

18. Eye on Malaysia - RM 30 million and another RM5.7 million of free ticket

19. RM 4.63 billion, ’soft-loan’ to PKFZ

20. RM 2.4 million on indelible ink

21. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid compensation amounting to RM 38.5 billion to 20 highway companies. RM 380 million windfalls for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from the toll hike in 2008 alone.

22. RM32 million timber export kickbacks involving companies connected to Sarawak Chief Minister and his family

Bailouts –23. Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System RM7.9 billion. At a time when MAS incurring losses every year, RM1.55 million used to buy three paintings to decorate its chairman's (Munir) office. 24. Putra transport system bailout which cost RM4.486 billion25. STAR-LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion26. National Sewerage System bailout costing RM192.54 million27. Seremban-Port Dickson Highway bailout costing RM142 million28. Kuching Prison bailout costing RM135 million29. Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam bailout costing RM8.3 million30. Le Tour de Langkawi bailout costing RM 3.5 Million 31. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in Bursa Malaysia under guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits. 32. APs scandal had been going on year-after-year going back for more than three decades, involving a total mind-boggling sum of tens of billions of ringgits 33. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of commercial lands and forestry concessions to children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgits 34. Travel around Malaysia and see for yourself how many white elephants like majestic arches, roads paved with fanciful bricks, designer lamp posts, clock towers, Municipal Council buildings that looks more like Istanas, extravagant places of worship, refurbishment of residences of VIPs, abandoned or under-utilised government sports complexes and buildings, etc! Combined they could easily amount to the hundreds of billions of ringgits! 35. Since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering 30 billion ringgit in natural gas subsidies to IPPs who were making huge profits. In addition, there were much wastages and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of Prime Minister only, we have absolutely no idea of the amount.

Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL! In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures “that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption.” Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages and mismanagements which could be higher!

If the above list (which represent moneys saved) is added to the nation’s coffer and together with Petronas profits, palm oil profits and profits from rubber, tin, agriculture produce, aquaculture produce, electronic and hardware exports, etc, for the past 5 decades, we can all agree on one thing - our country could be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil. The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre!.

Bloody hell!. These are colossal mismanagement of our money. No wonder we are suffering now. Look at venezuela, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and even Egypt, their fuel prices much much cheaper than Malaysia. These BN aka umno goons deserve to be put into jail. Ezam, welcom to hole full of shit. Now you are part of shit. What a shit.

Consumer affairs minister, Shahrir Samad says there were no direct subsidy from Petronas???

What are these oil subsidies??? This is a hoax story to hoodwink the general public on the believe that there are the purported subsidies. There are no subsidies only a hoax to cheat the Malaysian masses. Every crude oil producing countries allocate a percentage of their production for domestic consumption and the balance for export to earn foreign exchange. What is this, Malaysia Petronas, nett producer & nett exporter of crude oil talking of the oil subsidies??? Look at Brunei & Saudi Arabia and the many more crude oil exporting countries do, both and all are nett producers & nett exporters of crude oil, there are no changes in the prices at their pumps for both petrol and diesel despite the whopping Crude Oil prices now reaching US$139/- per barrel, they are all enjoying boom and boost to their State Coffers with the greatest windfall of all times with record foreign reserves’ balances and also a boost to their economies, so why are we seeing the reverse in Malaysia??? There is obviously mismanagement of the funds from the power that be. Where are the windfall profits for Petronas gone to from the nett exports before or after being handed over to the Government??? A royal commission should be formed to investigate where have all the profits/funds earned from the exports had gone to???

It is the right time that this grossly rotten, corrupt and incompetent flip flop tyranny called orang minyak that remove the hoax fuel subsidies & increase the electricity tariffs should also be removed… & to accomplish this, all & whoever, MPs from both BN or Pakatan Rakyat, it is your call now and as all the people of Malaysia are firmly behind you to remove this rot. Cannot imagine that a nett producer & nett exporter of Crude Oil has to do this, look at all the other crude oil nett exporters, there are no increases of prices of Petrol & Diesel at their pumps as both & all are nett producers and nett exporters of Crude Oil and they are now enjoying a boost to their state coffers & economies with a whopping windfall in oil prices of the current US$139/- per barrel that earned them huge foreign exchange reserves from their Crude Oil exports. But in Malaysia the reverse is true as there is no boost to the economy, but only sadness prevailed because the foreign exchange reserves from Crude Oil nett exports earned are poorly managed or badly mis-managed and no one knows where all the profits over the years had gone and we are saying a (large chunk of) the 700 or more Billions earned had disappeared and there is no accountability by the tyranny moron power that be. Otherwise we are having a boom time to our state coffers and a boost to our economy and we should be celebrating and why is that bloke orang minyak/moron is projecting gloom at this wonderful time. All the monies earned by Petronas must have been woefully squandered & cheated by the orang minyak moron or unless otherwise Petronas'President & CEO Datuk Hassan Marican must have badly mis-managed the windfall earnings by selling our Malaysian sweet crude forward at miserably low prices and buying low grade crude oil at a hefty high prices for the Malaysian local cunsumption??? If that is the case all Malaysians including those unborn ones have been betrayed by this cancerous Orang Minyak/Moron who has caused all these serious crimes, anarchies, chaos and inflations beyond comprehensions owing to the greed by this cancerous corrupted power hungry Moron/Orang Minyak who intended to stick to power beyond his welcome!!! Who is this orang minyak moron known as is everyone guess???

Further The Star made a comparison of prices in Thailand , Singapore and Indonesia . For Thailand it is quoted at RM3.90/liter, however are they aware that in Thailand new cars are cheaper than Malaysia by RM10,000? They pay only one life time for their driving license? No renewal fee after that? Also that goes for road tax as well? And do TheStar also aware that you can drive all the way from Hadtyai to Bangkok on a six lane highway without paying any Tolls ??!! Whereas here in Malaysia you have to pay yearly renewal for road tax , driving license and TOLLS, TOLLS, TOLLS!!!

For Singapore how can you quote RM 5.20 ? Please quote in Singapore Dollars because they are earning in Sing Dollars. You might as well say Europeans are paying RM10/liter. RM5.20/liter = Sing $ 2.20/liter, still cheaper than Malaysia in view of fact that Singapore is not a crude oil exporter. Are you saying that you fill up petrol in Singapore by paying Ringgit?

In an economy, dollar to dollar must be compared as apple to apple. Not comparing like durian in Malaysia is much cheaper than durian in Japan !! Of course-lah, Japan is not a durian producer!!! Comparing Malaysian durian with Thai durians make more sense!! For Indonesia we might say, is cheaper there at RM2.07/liter but compare that to their level of income!

As of last month a Toyota Vios would 'cause a damage' of about RM 89,000. In the international market, a Toyota Vios is about USD 19,000. USD 19,000 = RM 62,700 (using the indicative rates of USD 1 = RM 3.30) That makes Malaysian Vios owners pay an extra RM 26,300. This RM 26,300 should be cost of operations, profit and tax because the transportation costs have been factored in to the USD 19,000. RM 26,300/ RM625 petrol rebate per year translates to a Vios being used for 42.08 years.

I do understand that the RM 625 is a rebate given by the government, but it also means that one has to use the Vios for 42.08 years just to make back the amount paid in taxes for the usage of a foreign car. Would anyone use any kind of car for that long? Now with these numbers in front of us, does the subsidy sound like a subsidy or does it sound like a penalty? This just seems to be a heavy increment in our daily cost of living as we are not only charged with high car taxes but also with a drastic increase in fuel price.

With all the numbers listed out, I urge all Malaysians to join me in analyzing the situation further. Car taxation is government profit, fuel sales is Petronas' (GLC) profit which also translates into government profit. The government may ridicule us Malaysians by saying look at the world market and fuel price world wide. Please, we are Malaysians, we fought of the British, had a international port in the early centuries (Malacca), home to a racially mixed nation and WE ARE NOT STUPID!!!

We know the international rates are above the USD 130/barrel. We understand the fact that the fuel prices are increasing worldwide and we also know that major scientist are still contradicting on why this phenomenon is happening. Some blame Bush and his plunders around the world and some blame climate change and there are others which say petroleum 'wells' are getting scarce.

Again we go back to numbers to be more straight forward, 1 barrel = 159 liters x RM2.70/liter = RM 429 or USD 134. On 1 hand, we are paying the full cost of 1 barrel of crude oil with RM2.70 per liter but on the other hand the crude oil only produces 46% of fuel. Malaysia sells crude oil per barrel at USD130 buys back Fuel per barrel at USD134. And not forgetting, every barrel of fuel is produced with 2 barrels of crude oil. 1 barrel crude oil = produce 46% fuel (or half of crude oil), therefore 2 barrel crude oil = approximately 1 barrel fuel. In other words, each time we sell 2 barrels of crude oil, equivalently we will buy back 1 barrel of fuel.

So where this extra USD 126/barrel income is channeled to by Malaysian Govt???????? ?

Another analysis:

1 barrel crude oil = 159 liters. 46-47% of a barrel of crude oil = fuel that we use in our vehicles. 46% of 159 = 73.14 liters. @ RM 2.70/liter x 73.14 liter = RM197.48 of fuel per barrel of crude oil. This is only 46% of the barrel, mind you. Using RM 3.30 = USD 1, we get that a barrel of crude oil produces USD 59.84 worth of petrol fuel (46% of 1barrel). USD 59.84 of USD 130/barrel turns out to be 46% of a barrel as well.

Another 54% = bitumen, kerosene, and natural gases and so many more. And this makes a balance of USD 70.16 that has not been accounted for. So this is where I got curious. Where is the subsidy if we are paying 46% of the price of a barrel of crude oil when the production of petrol/barrel of crude oil is still only 46%?

In actual fact, we still pay for this as they are charged in the forms of fuel surcharge by airlines and road taxes for the building of road (because they use the tar/bitumen) and many more excuse charging us but let us just leave all that out of our calculations.

As far as I know, only the politicians who live in Putrajaya and come for their Parliament meetings in Kuala Lumpur (approximately 60+ km) are the ones to gain as they claim their fuel and toll charges from the money of the RAKYAT's TAX.

It is so disappointing to see this happen time and time again to the Malaysian public, where they are deceived by the propaganda held by the politicians and the controls they have over the press.

Which stupid idiot economist equates rebates for rich or poor with the cc of the vehicles? An average office clerk may own a second hand 1300cc proton Iswara costing $7,000 (rebate = $625) while the Datuk's children can own a fleet of 10 new cars of BMW, Audi and Volvo all less than 2000cc costing $2 millions and get a total rebate of $625 x 10 = $6,250! Wow what kind of economists we are keeping in Malaysia ...wonder which phD certificate that they bought from...

Misleading concept of Subsidy:

The word "subsidy" has been brandished by the BN government as if it has so generously helped the rakyat and in doing so incurred losses. This simple example will help to explain the fallacy:

Example:Ahmad is a fisherman. He sells a fish to you at $10 which is below the market value of $15. Let's assume that he caught the fish from the abundance of the sea at little or no cost. Ahmad claims that since the market value of the fish is $15 and he sold you the fish for $10, he had subsidised you $5 and therefore made a loss of $5.

Question : Did Ahmad actually make a profit of $10 or loss of $5 which he claimed is the subsidy?Answer: Ahmad makes a profit of $10 which is the difference of the selling price ($10) minus the cost price ($0 since the fish was caught from the abundance of the sea). There is no subsidy as claimed by Ahmad.

The BN government claims that it is a subsidy because the oil is kept and treated as somebody else's property (you know who). By right, the oil belongs to all citizens of the country and the government is a trustee for the citizens. So as in the above simple example, the BN government cannot claim that it has subsidised the citizen!

Mr Tulang Besi. A very good summary indeed. May i add the Putrajaya township where the justification to built it were to reduce expenditure from renting in KL but now the goverment need to pay rent to Putrajaya Holding costing millions rm per year, F1 team sponsorship since sauber now BMW, Petronas GP, the then Petronas TVK motoGP team, BBJ businessjet and Airbus A319.

1. YOu have to pay RoadTax in Thailand as well. U get a small sticker once a year when u pay.

2. Cars in Malaysia are incredibly cheap already. You can't find a car for less than 50,000RM in Europe. Cars have quite a global fixed market price. The difference comes from taxes added. Those taxes can be used for building and maintaining roads, and Malaysia has a lot of them, as well as to subsidize petrol and public transportation.3. Why do you guys always list up the 10 cheapest countries in the world to compare your petrol prices? For sure mismanagement is quite a big factor but you could also show the 100 countries that are more expensive. Malaysia is not a big exporter of oil and petrol anyway, the reserves are very small, so try to save them for a while. What about living with increasing oil prices as it is unavoidable anyway and at the same time reduce mismangement?5. As you may have noticed, crude oil prices almost doubled this year already and there is no trend backwards. This makes subsidies more expensive every single day. Don't forget that instead of selling the petrol cheap inside Malaysia, it could be sold for almost double the price to Europe.